Articulated arm awning

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to an articulated arm awning with a pivoted cloth shaft for the awning cloth, which can be extended to its position of use under pretension and which is attached to a fall bar at its other end, and with only a single articulated arm (6, 7) subject to an elongating force, whereby a device generating an elongating force is provided at the joint connecting the articulated arm with the fall bar (4) which spans this joint. A further element (11) is provided after the fall bar joint (10) and connected with this joint, whereby this element serves to secure and/or hold one end of the device (14) generating an elongating force for this joint, and whereby this element runs essentially parallel to the fall bar (4) and is preferably integrated in the latter.

The invention relates to an articulated arm awning.

Such awnings have been known for a long time and in a wide variety ofdesigns.

All previously known articulated arm awnings possess at least twoarticulated arms with at least two elements which are connected witheach other at the center pivot and are connected at their other ends inan articulated manner with a bracket or similar at the wall or ceilingattachment point as well as being connected with the fall bar or dropbar. At least the center pivot is equipped with a spring device whichspans the joint and generates an expanding or elongating force. Forexample, DE-A 32 43 025 describes an articulated arm awning with severalarticulated arms, where gas pressure springs are located between atransverse tube secured to the building and the inner elements of thearticulated arms or/and between the outer elements of the articulatedarms and the fall bar, whereby the spring tension increases constantlyduring extension of the awning.

This type of articulated arm awning is normally suitable for use forlarge widths and awnings with a large overhang. However, if it is wishedto construct especially narrow awnings which still have a largeoverhang, it is not possible to achieve smaller width dimensions beyonda certain minimum width, since the two articulated arms would impaireach other.

A solution suggested for slightly narrower awnings is described in DE 2904 884 C 2. In the case of the articulated arm awning described here,the articulated arms are arranged in superposed planes, so that they donot hinder each other during retraction of the awning. However, this hasthe disadvantage that the overall height of the awning is considerablyincreased.

A different solution is described in DE 27 43 748. There, an articulatedarm awning is described where the swivel pin of an articulated arm ismounted on the drop bar under spring tension so that it can be moved andlaterally displaced. In this solution, the reduction in width is ofteninsufficient.

The task of the invention is to create an articulated arm awning of thetype mentioned at the start which allows considerably reduced widthdimensions to be achieved without increasing the overall height.

The task of the invention is solved by the characteristics of appendedclaims.

Further embodiments of the invention are contained in the other patentclaims.

The invention will now be described in more detail on the basis of anexample embodiment in conjunction with the enclosed drawing.

The drawing shows a housing 1, which contains a pivoted cloth shaft 2which can be driven in the normal way by a (not shown) drive forextension and retraction of the awning. The awning cloth 3 which can bewound onto this cloth shaft is secured in the usual way to a fall bar 4at its outer end. The articulated arm 5, which consists here of twoparts, namely the first and second articulated arm elements 6 and 7, isattached to a main bar M of the housing at the top by a pivot joint 8forming a first hinge, possesses a center pivot 9 forming a second hingeand is connected with the fall bar 4 by the fall bar joint 10 forming athird hinge.

Such an articulated arm can naturally also consist of more than twoelements, particularly in the case of articulated arm awnings with alarge overhang. In addition, it is by no means necessary that the armsare of the same length.

The drive systems required for the extension and retraction movementsare naturally also provided. An important feature of this new design isthat there is only one articulated arm.

In order to permit this, there is a further arm element section 11connected to the fall bar joint 10, whereby this section can also beintegrated in the fall bar itself.

As is known, spring devices are available for articulated arms of thiskind which generate an elongating force so that the articulated arm isextended or folded in during extension or retraction of the articulatedarm awning.

Up to now, however, it was not possible to produce a single-armarticulated arm awning. This difficult problem has been solved byincorporating a spring device at the fall bar joint 10 as well inaddition to the normally provided spring devices.

In the example embodiment described here, it is possible to see a secondspring device 12 in the articulated arm element 6, this being securedaround the center pivot 9 in articulated arm element 7 by way of atension connection. In addition, it is possible to see a first springdevice 13 as well as a third spring device 14, whose purpose will now beexplained in more detail.

The first spring device 13 is anchored inside the housing 1 by means ofa further tension connection routed around joint or hinge 8.

An additional spring device 14 is also shown, whereby this is anchoredby way of a tension connection routed around the fall bar joint 10 inthe additional arm element 11 or, if the latter is integrated in thefall bar 4, in the bar itself. The fall bar joint 10 is also connectedwith the fall bar by means of a bracket 16. The additional arm element11, which may in principle be longer or shorter than shown, isadditionally connected with the fall bar 4 at 15. The additional springdevice 14 thus ensures that the awning cloth is always tautened. Thefall bar 4, which might possibly tend to tilt away at the sides, isstabilized in its horizontal position by the additional arm element 11and bracket 16.

It is also possible to combine the springs 13 and 14 and their tensionconnections around joints 9 and 8 to produce a tension connectionspanning the three joints. Equally, the spring devices 12 and 14 can becombined so that a tension connection is produced which spans onlyjoints 9 and 10.

Tension springs are shown here, but this must be seen only as an exampleembodiment. It is naturally also possible to replace the helical springsshown here only as an example by other spring devices such as flat coilsprings, leaf springs or gas springs or even by gas pressure shockabsorbers which exert an elongating force on the respective joint sothat the articulated arm is either extended or folded in duringextension and retraction of the awning.

It is particularly advantageous if the spring devices are alreadyinstalled with a certain pretension. It is of particular advantage ifreadjustment possibilities are also provided for the individual springdevices, thus allowing adjustment of the spring device acting on thefall bar joint to the correct position of the fall bar in particular.

In addition, it is advantageous if a height-adjustment device isprovided between the fall bar and fall bar joint which additionallypermits the position of the fall bar to be stabilized if necessary.

In the drawing, the articulated arm is shown with its two articulatedarm elements folding to the right. The articulated arm can naturallyalso be designed to fold to the left.

All other drive devices normally fitted on articulated arm awnings,particularly devices for adjustment of the awning slope and spring-upprotection and similar are of course also provided.

This new design thus creates an articulated arm awning whose maximumwidth is determined only by the width of the individual articulated armelements. If it is therefore wished to obtain articulated arm awningswith very small widths yet large overhangs, it is thus possible toprovide articulated arms with 3, 4 or 5 articulated arm elements in theknown way. In this case, the individual elements would be joined attheir joints in such a way that the individual elements of thearticulated arm form a zigzag arrangement when the awning is retracted.In this case, the individual spring devices spanning the various centerpivots and fall bar joint and generating an elongating force would haveto be correspondingly arranged. However, this does not represent anyproblem for an expert.

I claim:
 1. Articulated arm awning comprising:a housing which is adaptedto be mounted on a wall, said housing containing a pivotable cloth shaftand a main bar; exclusively, just one articulated arm, said arm having afirst articulated arm element, a second articulated arm element and athird arm element, said first articulated arm element being connected tosaid main bar via a first hinge, said second articulated arm elementbeing connected to said first articulated arm element via a secondhinge, said third arm element being connected to said second articulatedarm element via a third hinge; a fall bar connected to said pivotablecloth shaft via an awning cloth, said third arm element being connectedto said fall bar, each of said hinges having a swivel axis, said swivelaxes being substantially parallel to one another and substantiallyvertical with respect to said awning cloth; a first tension springdevice connected between said main bar and said first articulated armelement; a second tension spring device connected between said firstarticulated arm element and said second articulated arm element; a thirdtension spring device connected between said second articulated armelement and said third arm element, each of said tension spring devicesbeing guided around an outer side of a corresponding one of said swivelaxes of said hinges in order to generate an elongating force on saidarticulated arm.
 2. An awning according to claim 1, wherein said thirdelement is integrated in and aligned with said fall bar.
 3. An awningaccording to claim 1, further comprising a height adjusting elementbetween said third arm element and said fall bar.
 4. An awning accordingto claim 1, wherein each of said tension spring devices comprises one ofhelical springs, flat coil springs, leaf springs and gas springs.
 5. Anawning according to claim 1, further comprising additional tensionspring devices located on an inner side of said axes of said hinges. 6.An awning according to claim 1, wherein said tension spring devices arepreloaded with a tension load, said tension load being increased whensaid fall bar is moved towards said housing.